The International Journal of Stem Cells published its first issue in November, 2008. The “Greetings” section of the website provides an endorsement by Jae-Kyu Roh MD, PhD, President of the Korean Society for Stem Cells Research.

PDF versions of articles published in the first issue are freely accessible. However, in a response to an email query, Dong-Ik Kim MD, PhD, the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, commented that: “We will provide PDF version of articles with no charge for a while“. So, free access to the full text will be available only temporarily.

The same email response from Dong-Ik Kim also provided instructions about how to access the journal’s “Copyright Transfer and Agreement Form“. Via the “Online Submission” section of the website, one can create a new account and log in. Via the “Author Center“, one then clicks on “Submit a New Manuscript“. One then can go immediately to “Proof and Submit” (Step 6 of the submission sequence). The form can be downloaded at this step. An excerpt from the form:

Copyright Transfer and Agreement
The undersigned author assigns and transfers all rights, title, interest, and copyright ownership in the above named manuscript form [sic] the author(s) to International Journal of Stem Cells. The author warrants the originality of the materials in the above-named manuscript and has the authority to convey the copyright on behalf of all coauthors
All materials become the property of International Journal of Stem Cells and may not be published elsewhere without prior written permission from International Journal of Stem Cells.

Comment: Authors do not retain copyright if this form is signed. Might the journal be willing to accept an addition, to the “Copyright Transfer and Agreement Form“, of an Author Addendum that would permit Green OA? I didn’t ask the Editor-in-Chief that question.

Media from around the world were captivated by the Yamanaka paper published in Cell earlier this week. Over 300 stories about the research appeared online within 2 hours after being posted online, with nearly 800 stories by 3pm that day.
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The high priests of the newspaper business – otherwise known as editors and publishers — have learned about the power of the Internet the hard way. Their business is turning remorselessly downward as advertisers shift their dollars to chase readers who have abandoned print.

Now comes the turn of the high priests of scientific journals. And the forces at work are something that the California stem cell agency will have to confront as it deals increasingly with public access to publicly funded research findings and how quickly that access becomes available.

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The Internet is like a tidal force. Resisting its imperative may appear to be possible in the short term, but over the long term the high priests will be sweep out to sea. The alternative is come up with a better business plan and to find a way to ride the tide instead fighting it.

Intransigent high priests? Or, inadvertently playing the role of King Canute, who “used his evident inability to order the tide to roll back to display to his courtiers the limitations of a king’s power to command the seas“?

For another source of news about the “science, ethics, business and politics of stem cell research“, see The Stem Cell blog.

We investigated the influence of normal cell phenotype on the neoplastic phenotype by comparing tumors derived from two different normal human mammary epithelial cell populations, one of which was isolated using a new culture medium. Transformation of these two cell populations with the same set of genetic elements yielded cells that formed tumor xenografts exhibiting major differences in histopathology, tumorigenicity, and metastatic behavior. While one cell type (HMECs) yielded squamous cell carcinomas, the other cell type (BPECs) yielded tumors closely resembling human breast adenocarcinomas. Transformed BPECs gave rise to lung metastases and were up to 10[power]4-fold more tumorigenic than transformed HMECs, which are nonmetastatic. Hence, the pre-existing differences between BPECs and HMECs strongly influence the phenotypes of their transformed derivatives.

A PubMed search for articles authored by RA Weinberg yielded a set of 301 articles. (The article cited above hadn’t been indexed by PubMed yet). Of these 301 articles, links to free full text were provided via PubMed for 108 (36%). Of the most recent 20 articles, 6 have PubMed links to free full text (30%). Searches via Google Scholar and Google quickly revealed free full text versions of 7 of the 14 other articles in the 20 most recent articles indexed by PubMed, for a total of 13/20 (65%). Usually, these latter free full text versions were available because an embargo period had elapsed.

In subsequent posts, I hope to provide more examples of this kind. My reason for an interest in such examples? It’s the leading researchers in various fields of research and scholarship who serve as role models for their more junior colleagues.

As an author, you (or your employer or institution) may do the following:

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* post a revised personal version of the final text (including illustrations and tables) of the article (to reflect changes made in the peer review and editing process) on your personal or your institutional website or server, with a link (through the relevant DOI) to the article as published, provided that such postings are not for commercial purposes …

Research reported this week by three different groups shows that normal skin cells can be reprogrammed to an embryonic state in mice1, 2, 3. The race is now on to apply the surprisingly straightforward procedure to human cells.

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Last year, Yamanaka introduced a system that uses mouse fibroblasts, a common cell type that can easily be harvested from skin, instead of eggs4. Four genes, which code for four specific proteins known as transcription factors, are transferred into the cells using retroviruses. The proteins trigger the expression of other genes that lead the cells to become pluripotent, meaning that they could potentially become any of the body’s cells. Yamanaka calls them induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells). “It’s easy. There’s no trick, no magic,” says Yamanaka.

The big science news of the day — and maybe the year — is that researchers have, in mice, managed to transform skin cells into what seem to look and act like pluripotent stem cells. (There’s coverage everywhere, including: NYT, WP and Nature.) This development opens the possibility that maybe we can bypass many of the ethical questions that have surrounded research into human embryonic stem cells.

While this is exciting news, there’s one phrase we shouldn’t overlook: in mice. …

So, the inaugural issue of Cell Stem Cell has contributed (see above) to this exciting news.

You can post your version of your journal article on your personal web page or the web site of your institution, provided that you include a link to the journal’s home page or the article’s DOI and include a complete citation for the article. This means that you can update your version (e.g. the Word or Tex form) to reflect changes made during the peer review and editing process.

Again, Green OA on personal or institutional web page or web site is permitted.

Why have both Elsevier and Cell Press (the Elsevier premium imprint for life science research) both launched journals that may compete with each other for high-quality articles about research on stem cells? Probably, because it’s a hot field at present, and can be expected to become even hotter.

The implications for OA? One is that Green OA is feasible for both Elsevier and Cell Press journals. Another is that, at present, no Gold (fee-based) or Platinum (no-fee) OA journal has a primary focus on research on stem cells.

However, another aspect of research on stem cells that’s currently quite hot is studies on cancer stem cells. Maybe there’s still an opportunity to establish a Gold or Platinum OA journal that has a focus on cancer stem cells?